Afterglow
by Mrs Capt Jack Sparrows
Summary: Spoilers 1x16 (Sonata) - Picks up after the door closes. Mick and Beth are laying in each others arms, basking in the afterglow and have some semi serious discussions. Rated T because I'm paranoid. Unbeta'ed.


_A/N: So here I am, with another Moonlight Fic... this sort of picks up after the door closes to Beth's Apartment... but it's not smutty... I rated it T just to be safe though... It's unbeta'ed... kinda fluffy, a bit of back story of Mick, and more fluffy goodness... Hope you Enjoy! On with the story!_

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Mick and Beth were laying in her bed, snuggling with each other simply enjoying each others company. Mick had finally admitted to Beth that he was in love with her and they made love for hours, however Mick never once bit Beth. He opted for biting his own forearm. Now they were basking in the afterglow.

"Mick?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you bite your arm?" Beth asked, as she looked up at Mick.

"I didn't want to hurt you," Mick explained. Beth raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Really? It has nothing to do with not wanting to drink my blood?"

"This again? Beth…" Mick sighed.

"You were willing to bite Simone, you weren't afraid of hurting her… I still don't understand why it's such a big deal to bite me but not others."

"Technically I didn't bite Simone. Josef did… I just tasted… for professional purposes."

"Yeah, and they have labs for those sort of things."

"Hey, what happened to me being a mobile vampire lab? Those were your words exactly when we were looking for Jacob."

"That was different."

"How?"

"I dunno… maybe because it looked like Simone was orgasmic."

"Would you rather it look like she was in pain? Look, as a vampire, I have many different abilities. Abilities I use as a private investigator… advanced hearing, sight, smell, and yes, sometimes taste. A vampire can taste blood types, among other things in the blood."

"I still don't get why you don't want to bite me."

"Do you _want_ me to bite you?"

"No… yes… maybe… I don't know… it's just… you made it seem like this big deal out in the desert and now… I dunno… I guess I'm jealous."

"Jealous? Why?"

"When you fed from me, when you were dying… I'll be honest, I was a little scared. I hadn't known about vampires for very long and you were a very thirsty, dying vampire… and when you bit my arm… It was like I could feel…I don't know… I could feel you… what you were feeling… and to be quite frank, it was not orgasmic… it didn't hurt exactly, but it wasn't anything pleasant."

"I'm sorry… I didn't want to hurt you…"

"I know… you were dying, you needed it, I don't regret saving you… but that's been my _only_ experience, Mick. When we were at Hurst College and I met Simone… when Josef told me she was 'a very willing source' I was shocked. I couldn't understand why anybody would willingly subject themselves to that… like I said, it wasn't pleasant and not something I'd want to repeat. I mean, if you wind up in the desert again, in need of blood I'd do it again, but I'd really rather not… and not just because I prefer you living… so when I saw her moaning in pleasure, on the verge of an orgasm… yeah, I was jealous."

"Oh… oh… I… I didn't… I didn't realize… I'm sorry." Mick stammered, "Um… do you um… would you want me to… I dunno… um…"

Beth giggled a little at Mick's tongue tied stammering, "Yeah, I want to know what it's like to feed a vampire who's not dying… and I want that vampire to be you… don't make me go to Josef… I'm sure if I asked him he wouldn't refuse me." Beth smirked, hoping to spark a bit of jealousy in Mick to trick him into action.

"Josef wouldn't dare… not unless he wanted to be staked for a very long time." Mick growled playfully as he vamped out. He kissed Beth's neck, sensually licking along her neck, finding the right place to bite. Finding his sweet spot, he gently bit down; sinking his fangs into her delicate flesh, then just as quickly retracts his fangs with his lips sealed around the bite marks. Mick laps up the blood as it pours from two wounds, sucking slightly once in a while to increase the blood flow when it slows. Beth gasped a little when he first punctured her skin, but soon began involuntarily moaning in pleasure as Mick drank from her neck. When Mick heard her heart rate slow slightly, he licked the two marks and pressed his tongue against them to clean her neck and stop the flow of blood, sealing the bite.

When Mick looked up at Beth, still vamped out, she smiled at him. "Damn… that was amazing… you need to do that more often… I can only imagine how fantastically amazing sex and biting can be together." Beth giggled.

"Huh… apparently Josef was right…" Mick chuckled, smirking, still vamped.

"Right about what?"

"Well, when I was human, he and I had a bit of a talk about vampires and humans and sex… I pointed out that I have a tendency to bite down when I…"

"Orgasm?"

"Yeah… Josef pointed out that some women like that… apparently he was right."

"Oh God, I'm not going to be able to look Josef in the face the next time I see him without blushing now," Beth giggled.

"Oh, I'm sure he'll have other reasons to make you blush… Josef has a sort of… sixth sense for knowing if somebody's had sex recently… and it has nothing to do with his vamp senses… it's his love of awkwardness."

"Remind me to shower well before I see him…"

"It won't matter… and he'll know I bit you… which means even more cajoling to start feeding from freshies again."

"He bugs you about it?"

"Yeah… he has for several decades now."

"When did you stop feeding from freshies?"

"Pretty much as soon as I saved you from Coraline… So since the mid 80's."

"Wow… so before that you used freshies?"

"Yeah, Josef introduced me to the concept in the 60's."

"Oh. I would have thought that Coraline would have been the one… she was your Sire."

"Yeah, Coraline had a different method… and she wasn't a very good teacher… Josef was the one to show me that humans could be willing and it didn't have to be painful for them."

"No wonder you and he are such good friends," Beth smiled, snuggling against him, "What was Coraline's method?"

"She preferred to hunt… prey on unsuspecting humans… I hated it… I would run away from her, trying to escape this life she forced me into… but she'd find me. I would always be thirsty… I'd beg her to kill me… instead she'd always have some unsuspecting young woman with her… I think they thought they were about to be raped… but the bloodlust would be too much to ignore… The first time I fed on a human, Coraline pointed to the woman's neck and said 'bite there and suck'… she told me instinct would tell me what to do."

"Wow... that's messed up."

"Yeah… the first time I met Josef, it was at a party he was hosting, he had just moved to LA. There were freshies and a who's who of vamps. After the introductions were out of the way, Josef offered Coraline and me a couple of freshies, like a good host should… I had never heard the term 'freshie' and I was very depressed and suicidal… or I would have been if I knew how to kill myself… Coraline wouldn't tell me how to kill a vampire… although I did try to stake myself once; she just laughed at me for thinking it would work… she told me not to believe everything I see in the movies," Mick smirked a little at the memory, "But I digress… When Josef offered a girl to me, I had been refusing to drink for about… a week or two… so I was very thirsty… I vamped as soon as she neared me but I didn't want to be a monster, a killer… I pushed the girl away from me quite harshly… Josef had to catch her so she wouldn't fall. He was quite confused… while Josef was making sure the girl was alright, and questioning Coraline about my behavior, I made a break for it. I started running, but I had never been to that part of the Hollywood Hills before… I got lost easily, and Josef found me, dragging me back, kicking and screaming and trying to bite… but he's got 324 years on me. By the time we got back to his house, I was sobbing, begging to be killed. He took me to a room away from the party, away from Coraline. Told me to calm down and asked me why I was so upset. I told him I didn't want to kill anymore," Mick said then paused. Beth snuggled against Mick, not saying anything, knowing this was hard for him to share.

"He asked me how I normally fed, so I explained to him about Coraline taking me on hunts… draining the girls I attacked… Coraline was always making a phone call after and women showing up to clean up the evidence of what had been done… Josef was pissed… I got the feeling I was in trouble, but _I_ wasn't the one in trouble. Josef explained freshies, and biting technique. He had me practice on his arm first until he felt comfortable enough to bring in an experienced freshie. He monitored me and guided me through it. After about three more freshies, I wasn't thirsty anymore and I hadn't killed anybody. It was about then that Coraline found us and Josef yelled at her… told her how she was being irresponsible. He wanted to know why I was so depressed and why she was teaching me to hunt when freshies were available and hunting was obsolete," Mick recalled in a way that Beth knew he was almost reliving the experience.

"What did she say when Josef questioned her?" Beth asked softly.

"She said she didn't know why I was depressed… it was a lie, she knew… she just didn't want to tell Josef the truth. Then she told him when she was turned the first thing she learned was how to hunt, and then how to feed on the willing. Josef chastised her and told her to get with the times… that it wasn't the middle ages anymore and she couldn't go around hunting humans… that it was careless and reckless. She needed to teach me control. It was at that point I got tired of being talked about as if I wasn't still in the room and I realized I didn't _have to_ kill to feed. I told Coraline I never wanted to see her again. She of course had a fit, saying I wasn't ready to be on my own yet. She turned me in 1952 and I believe it was 1960… I had been a vamp for 8 years and she was saying I wasn't ready…" Mick said, shaking his head, "Most vamps are ready to leave their Sire after about 3 to 4 years… 5 at the most… after that, if they stay with them, it's because they want to… not because they're still fledglings and dependent on their Sires."

"What a psycho bitch," Beth giggled a little.

"Yeah, Josef asked me what year I was turned, so I told him and he told Coraline to leave and if he ever saw her around he'd stake her and send her back to France. She left pretty quick… Josef let me live with him, he taught me how to actually blend in with the humans… Throughout the 70's Coraline would pop in and out of my life… it was wild and crazy, usually ended in both of us fighting tooth and nail… I'd kick her out… she'd leave…"

"But then she kidnapped me… and you thought you had killed her then…"

"Yeah… I couldn't stand the thought of an innocent child being killed because of me… then I realized that the freshies I fed on, they were all somebody's daughter, sister, friend… so I switched to 'store bought' instead of fresh from the vein… and Josef is constantly trying to tempt me back to freshies."

"So… I know you get your blood from the morgue… so it's drained from dead people… does that affect the taste at all?"

"It can… a person's blood is… filled with different scents and tastes… it can be an acquired taste… Josef isn't too keen on it… he drinks it when he comes over to my place, but he always complains. He calls it 'non-fat soy vegan blood'," Mick says rolling his eyes.

"That's funny," Beth giggled, "So… since we're like… seriously dating now… and since you don't have a bed at your place, should I see about getting my apartment outfitted with a… hide-a-freezer and a secret fridge stocked with my boyfriend's favorite drink?" she smirked and laughed.

"A hide-a-freezer? What? Like a hide-a-bed?"

"Yeah… and you know… if there's ever a reason you need a place to hide out or crash for the night or…uh... I guess day… if your apartment is too far or not an option…"

"Yeah, sure… if that's what you want… I'll call up the guy who outfitted my loft and set up an appointment. Once he has a look around and draws up the plans for it, he can get it all done in one night, and your landlord would never know a thing."

"Yeah, I don't think these renovations are the kind of thing you can get prior authorization for."

"No… and if you were to ever move, you'd have to call ahead of time to have all evidence of it removed…"

"Of course, that's a given."

"Yeah," Mick smiles, snuggling Beth closer, "There's another thing about vampires I should probably tell you, since we're seriously dating now…"

"Oh, and what's that?"

"Well… vampires can be… quite territorial and now that we're officially seriously dating…" Mick pauses, his mouth open about to speak but no words come out, "I don't know how else to say what I want to say without offending you or sounding…"

"Just say it however you need to Mick. I promise not to be offended."

"Now that I've fed from you, without dying… I feel an intense desire to… to mark you as mine."

"Mark me as yours? What does that mean?" Beth asked with an eyebrow raised.

"I want to bite you again… but it's… it's more than just an 'I'm hungry' type of bite."

"There are different kinds of bites?"

"Yeah… there's 'I'm hungry' bites, 'I'm orgasming' bites, and there's bites that… that for lack of a better way to say it… there's 'I'm marking this human as mine' bites… it basically lets other vampires know, by scent, that you belong to me… and it would be suicide to touch or hurt you."

"So… basically you'd be marking your territory… your territory being me? It would be the vampire version of a dog peeing in his yard to ward off other dogs?"

"Um… I wouldn't compare it to that… but yeah… I'd be marking my territory… putting my scent on you."

"Do you have to?"

"Uh... I… I dunno… I mean… I have an intense instinctual desire to but I won't if you don't want me to."

"Will it only be the one time? And will it still be pleasurable?"

"I… I don't know… I've never… I've heard of it, but I've never been on either end of it… I've never been the one biting or being bitten like that."

"Call Josef… as much as I dislike him knowing anything about our personal life, I'd rather we both know exactly what to expect than being surprised and you brooding and pouting and never touching me again."

"Uh… alright… I guess…" Mick agrees reluctantly then calls Josef.

"_Hello?"_ Josef answered.

"Hey, man. How are you?"

"_Great. Just got finished with dinner and _she_ was delicious."_ Josef smirked.

"Lovely… Since you're my step-sire, I have a question for you and please try not to be embarrassing about it."

"_Who? Me? I'm never embarrassing. What's the question?"_

"I have a few… is it… normal… to feel like I want to mark Beth as mine?"

"_It's about damn time! I was wondering when you'd get the balls to mark her as your woman."_

"Okay so that answers that question… the other question is more for Beth… she wants to know if it's a pleasurable experience to be marked…"

"_If it's not, you're doing it wrong. Of course it's pleasurable, especially if you add sex to the mix. And just so you know, it doesn't have to be her neck you bite. You can mark her anywhere you want, it can still be sensed through clothes."_

"Okay… thanks Josef."

"_So, does this mean you and Blondie worked things out? You're in bed with her right now, aren't you? Congratulations, Mick. Tell Beth I say Hello." _

"Good-bye Josef…" Mick says rolling his eyes, then hangs up before Josef can continue. Beth giggles at Mick's expression of amused annoyance.

"So… what did he say?"

"He said if it doesn't feel good I'm doing it wrong… and it doesn't need to be your neck and it's even better with sex."

"Well, I'm ready for round two. What about you?"

"I'm a vampire, I have excellent stamina."

Mick and Beth make love again and at the moment of climax Mick vamps out and sinks his fangs into the top of her breast, growling quietly and clinging to her as tightly as he dare without hurting her. Beth moans in pleasure, clinging to Mick. He gently retracts his fangs, lapping at the two puncture marks, cleaning the blood from her skin and sealing the bite. Mick inhales deeply and is able to smell his mark and scent on Beth. He smiles and snuggles closer to her, nuzzling his head against the crook of her neck making a sound that is almost like purring.

"Are you… purring?" Beth giggles.

"I'm not a cat. I do not purr."

"You were totally purring! I love it. It's cute." Beth giggled again, then snuggles him closer to her, "My vampire."

"My human," Mick chuckles and then snuggles closer to Beth, nuzzling her chest, where he marked her, making the purring sound again as they both drift off to sleep.

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_A/N: So that was my story... hopefully you all liked it... Please Review! It makes my muses happy.  
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_As Always... Take What Ye Can... Give Nothin' Back!  
Vampire Solidarity, Rah, Rah, Rah! (And All That)  
Mrs. Capt. Jack Sparrows  
_


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